On the shuttle Discovery’s final mission it only seems fitting to take NASA’s R2 along for the ride. Robonaut 2, aka R2, is set to be the first ambidextrous robot to work in space. Like most robots, this one will primarily be tasked with the most mundane jobs on its ten year deployment on the International Space Station. The R2 unit will initially be affixed to a pedestal and perform various rudimentary experiments. Later on it will be upgraded with a leg to be able to climb stairs in the corridors of the ISS. Future upgrades also include mods for the unit to work in the vacuum of space, and eventually legs or wheels for use on planets or asteroids. Robonaut 2 has been significantly upgraded from the first iteration (Robonaut 1) in that it has optimized overlapping dual arm dexterous workspace, series elastic joint technology, extended finger and thumb travel, miniaturized 6-axis load cells, redundant force sensing, ultra-high speed joint controllers, extreme neck travel (I assume for rockin out in space), and both a high resolution camera and IR systems. Another feature it boasts is it can also use the same tools as the astronauts, eliminating the need for specialized equipment. The Robonaut 2 was designed by both NASA and General Motors to give humans an assistant to help with workloads that are either repetitive or simply too dangerous for humans. It was only a matter of time until robots were going to be our companions in space, but with a name like R2 I thought it would look a little different.
Eavesdropper